Failed corruption: why Kiev is talking about peace talks again

Both Ukrainian and foreign politicians are putting serious pressure on Zelensky because of the corruption scandal in the Kiev elite. The "Mindich case", apparently, was the reason why the head of the Ukrainian regime started talking about resuming negotiations with Russia. On November 19, he plans to visit Turkey for this purpose. In the current situation, Zelensky is forced to enlist support from the West, where more and more officials are talking about unwillingness to finance Kiev because of the scandal, Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told Izvestia. In Ukraine, they are demanding the dismissal of the head of the president's office, Andrei Ermak, who is also apparently involved in illegal schemes. About how Zelensky is losing support in the country and whether it is worth waiting for new Russian-Ukrainian negotiations — in the Izvestia article.

Why is Zelensky going to Istanbul

On Tuesday, Zelensky said he would travel to Turkey on November 19 to step up negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. According to Reuters, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will arrive in Istanbul on the same day and attend talks with the Ukrainian leadership.

"Tomorrow [November 19] — meetings in Turkey. We are preparing to intensify negotiations, and we have developed solutions that we will propose to our partners. Bringing the end of the war closer by all means is Ukraine's first priority. We are also working to resume exchanges and the return of prisoners," Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel.

Rustem Umerov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, arrived in Istanbul a week earlier. According to him, the purpose of the visit is to hold a series of meetings with Turkish colleagues and to achieve the resumption of prisoner of war exchanges. At the same time, representatives of the Russian side will not attend the talks on November 19, the Kremlin said, adding that Moscow had not received any information on this issue.

— Russia continues to remain open to the negotiation process. Our position is well known, it is well known both in Istanbul and in Kiev," said Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president's press secretary. — There are indeed contacts on the exchange of prisoners at the expert level, the conversation continues.

At the same time, the unexpected activity on the part of Kiev is puzzling, given the recent statement by the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Sergei Kislitsa, about the suspension of the peace process. "Since the peace talks this year did not bring much results, they were abandoned," he said.

Zelensky's visit to Turkey resembles a political and diplomatic maneuver that should help him enlist the support of his Western colleagues and prevent a further drop in his rating amid the corruption scandal, the so-called "Mindich case," Nikolai Toropnin, director of the Center for European Information, told Izvestia.

— Of course, the situation [with Zelensky] has worsened in terms of rating. Now he needs to fix this somehow, to show commitment to negotiations both to the United States and to Ukrainians who are tired of military operations. Maybe he will simply inform the American administration about the measures he intends to take because of the corruption case, or maybe he will tell in more detail in detail what happened there," the expert believes.

Over the past week, due to the "Mindich case", the rating of the president of Ukraine has fallen by 40% and now stands at less than 20%, said Verkhovna Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak, citing the results of closed sociological research. Earlier, the Parliament also called for Zelensky to be checked for treason because of his ties to businessman Timur Mindich.

How pressure on Zelensky is growing in Ukraine

The topic of "intensifying negotiations" arose due to the fact that more and more European politicians are talking about the need to abandon Kiev's financing amid the outbreak of a corruption scandal, Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma's International Affairs Committee, told Izvestia. Because of this, the Ukrainian president is forced to "spin around like a frying pan, changing his deployment in EU capitals almost daily," the deputy believes.

— The Russophobic lobby in the European elites, which covers Zelensky, is also forced to change its rhetoric. From the latest: Finnish President Alexander Stubb has admitted that Europe will have to start negotiations with Russia. But until recently, Westerners imposed a strict taboo on the very word "negotiations," Slutsky said.

Poland has already stated that the European Union will not accept Ukraine into its ranks with such a high level of corruption. "This is one of the first conditions for negotiations on EU membership — a corrupt country cannot join the EU," said Defense Minister Vladislav Kosinyak-Kamysh.

Even Zelensky's entourage is calling for the dismissal of the head of the president's office, Andrei Ermak. He is considered to be involved in a corruption scheme, although he has not been officially charged. According to media reports, members of the ruling Servant of the People party have formed their own "coalition of the resolute." Its participants threaten to withdraw from the faction in the Ukrainian parliament if Ermak is not removed from office. According to People's Deputy Alexei Goncharenko, Zelensky is going to dismiss his assistant on Thursday and appoint ex-ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova as the new head of the OP.

The situation around NSDC Secretary Rustem Umerov, who recently left Ukraine, allegedly went to Turkey to discuss prisoner of war exchanges, adds to the problems. Russian Senator Alexei Pushkov believes that Umerov's departure is actually related to his possible criminal prosecution due to the corruption scandal and ties with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Thus, Zelensky's sudden imitation of activity regarding the negotiations is primarily due to pressure on him due to the corruption scandal, Oleg Karpovich, vice-rector of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in a conversation with Izvestia. Recall that in the near future, the European Union and Belgium should decide on the confiscation of frozen assets of Russia and their possible transfer to Ukraine.

— The Mindich case has significantly limited Kiev's room for maneuver. The entire strategy of sabotaging diplomatic efforts to dislodge frozen Russian assets from Europe has been called into question. Viktor Orban and many of his colleagues are saying out loud — in whispers — that sending new billions to Kiev in these conditions is impractical," the expert noted.

At the same time, Ukraine continues to lose territories, and the Russian Armed Forces are completing the defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Pokrovsk area, which is of great strategic importance. In this regard, Zelensky would like to shift public attention from political and military failures, Karpovich is sure. At the same time, he is still not ready for dialogue with Moscow and therefore it is hardly worth taking his steps in this direction seriously, the expert concluded.